Dead Hearts Aflame
by Chronically Creative
Summary: Sequel to 'The Daughter of Vampires.' Jaxon McDonald hasn't had the easiest life, and now he's determined to make it up to all the vampires he murdered. What starts as just a way to help a vampire friend in need ends up as the love of a lifetime. R&R.


**Disclaimer - Every single thing in this story is mine. The characters, mine. The plot, mine. Even the Vampire Mythology is mine. So, don't steal. Same goes with my characters, if you want to use them, ask me first or I'll kick your ass.**

Growing up, I wanted to be a fireman. I, Jaxon Joseph McDonald, son of the CEO's of the multimillion dollar computer company, didn't want to be a lawyer like the rest of the Blackwood family, or a business man like the McDonald family. Instead, I wanted to jump into burning buildings to save damsels in distress and receive kisses from said damsels. I'd been amazed by firefighters since I saw one save a small kitten from a tree in central park when I was three years old. I wanted children to look up at me as their superhero, the one they could depend on when they were in danger, like I did.

But life doesn't always go as planned. I didn't plan the sudden, horrible murder of my parents, or moving in a small, ugly town to live with a poor uncle in a small apartment in the back of a tattoo parlor. I definitely didn't plan going from one of the richest kids in the world to being a poor one in one minute flat. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a rich kid, maybe my destiny was to be a poor. If it was, destiny is a bitch.

There was one good thing that came out of it. I met and befriended this girl, a year younger than myself, and she quickly became my best friend. Katra Samson was the first woman I fell in love with. She had long black hair, which was naturally light brown, and her eyes were a beautiful emerald green that hypnotized me from the moment we met. Of all the friends I made, she was the one person I trusted more than anyone. I could tell her anything and she would never be disgusted with me or ashamed of being friends with me, even when she found out I slept with my Math teacher because they had resembling body shapes.

She's married now and I haven't seen her in a year, ever since the incident. She seems to be happy and I want to try to fix our friendship, but I cannot do it until I make it up to all of them. I moved into a small apartment in New York City and I got a job. It wasn't as a firefighter, that would never happen, but it was still in a line of work that helped _some_ people. After all, what would be a bar without a bartender?

I also found a roommate, an eighteen year old named Quinn that worked as a bartender at the same bar as I did. It was how we met and how I came to live with him. He's a short guy, maybe 5'6; with short, shaggy brown hair and normally has on black or dark blue jeans and hoodies. He's a pretty silent guy, spends most of his time either in his room or in the living room with one of his picture books. _Mangas_, he calls them. I didn't really see what the guy was amazed with; it was just pictures with words on them.

Although we don't have much in common, I consider him a good friend. We both know that if we ever needed something, the other would do whatever they can to help out, no matter what. We were both part of a world that if you wanted to live, you needed someone to have your back, or you would surely die a horrible, gruesome death.

"Hey," Quinn said in his soft almost feminine voice as he entered the apartment with a box in his hands. "I brought beers from the bar for you."

"Did you pay for them?" I replied, taking the box from him.

He put his hands in his pockets, looked down at his feet and shook his head.

I smirked and put a hand on his shoulder, "Wonderful, I've taught you well."

I walked into the kitchen, which was only a step or two from the entrance, and put the box on the counter. I took a knife from the drawer and professionally ripped off the tape that was holding the box closed. The boxed opened the reveal twelve beers and I took them all out to put them in the fridge, all except for two, which I saved for myself and Quinn.

I tossed him the beer and opened mine before flopping down on the couch and picking up the XBox 360 remote. I turned it on, pressed the button on both remotes for two players. Quinn sat down beside me not long afterward.

"How was work?" I said casually as I waited for the game to begin.

He shrugged and picked up the remote without saying a word. It didn't surprise me. Even after nine months of living together, we still hadn't had a heart to heart conversation. Not that I was looking for one, but a normal pair of roommates would at least talk about girls and sports. We did not.

The title 'Gears of Wars' caught my attention as it popped on the screen, blood splattering around the words. I quickly started the game and we started the killings. After a few minutes, I noticed Quinn was having a hard time, which he didn't normally have. While I didn't normally admit this, he was a better gamer than I was, always outplaying me, but now his guy was almost dead.

"What's up, man?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Nothing." He answered simply, glaring at the TV screen as he unsuccessfully tried to kill a small monster with a chainsaw.

"You sure? Because from my point of view, it seems there's something seriously bothering you." I pressed pause on my remote and put it aside. When I turned to face him, he was staring blankly at the television set, remote still in his hands. "I know we aren't the closest of roommates, but dude, if you need anything, anything at all, you know I'm here for you."

He shrugged and after a few moments, threw the remote on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch. He stared at the ceiling then closed his eyes slowly, swallowing roughly.

"If you want to be alone," I told him, "I can go out for a few hours. It's the least I could do after all the times you left to give _me_ some time alone."

Like I said before, we were not the closest of roommates, but we did have an unspoken understanding. When he got home from work to find me in my room, door closed and heavy metal music on the top volume, he left me alone and only came back the next morning. I'd never been in the situation where I had to leave and let him sulk and brood in the apartment alone, but if this was a time where I needed to, I would leave immediately. I appreciated having a roommate that gave me my time alone and it was the least I could do to give him back the same understanding.

"No, I just don't know if I want to _talk_ about it." He leaned forward and cupped his face in his hands. "I should have known I couldn't run away from them forever. I knew they were going to find me eventually."

I remained silent, knowing exactly who _they_ were. Before moving in together, we'd had a long discussion where we told each other the reasons young guys like ourselves were working as bartenders and living alone, with no family whatsoever. It was the only time we spoke of our past. He had started first, telling me the exact reason why he no longer lived with his family, without keeping anything out. Hesitantly, I'd told him of my past and the reason I could not go back to Mississipi, to _her_, and surprisingly, he never put it against me.

"What did they say?" I asked a bit hesitantly.

He lifted his head and looked at me incredulously, "What do you _think_ they said?"

"They can't just show up and tell you to leave with them. They can't force you to do anything, especially not this. How could they, anyways. Isn't there like, a loophole or something for people in your situation?"

Before I even finished asking my question, I knew there wasn't. He was living an unfair life and he couldn't so anything about it. He would have to leave with them and there was no way around it.

"For people in my situation? I'm gay, Jaxon, not deathly sick. Homosexual or Heterosexual, it does not mater. I will be forced to do this. Afterward, I can do whatever I want, but this is Law. I don't _have_ a second choice."

I shook my head and stood up, pacing from one side of the living room to the other, wishing I could help my friend in some way, knowing deep inside that there was no way that I could help him. Quinn had told me once how he knew many people that were in the same situation as him and hadn't been able to do anything about it, no matter how hard they tried. I couldn't see how he would be any different. Everything was against him in this situation.

"Are you sure?" I asked, hoping, wishing and praying that there would be some way. He knew more about this than me. Maybe, just maybe, he had figured out the possibility of a loophole.

He didn't say anything, just stared at the television screen, deep in thought. He looked like he was on to something, but was making sure that there was no way that _they_ could stop him.

"Jaxon, do you remember what you said to me when I told you about myself, how you wanted to make it up to everyone for what you did?"

I was a bit shocked, not expecting it at all. I thought about it all the time, but I knew I had only mentioned it once and I hadn't expected him to remember it. I simply nodded, waiting to see where he was going with this.

"You're a very attractive man, great personality...and she's a little Daddy's girl. I can't do anything about it, but if she tells her parents she doesn't want this, I could get out of this deal."

I stared at it, dumbfounded. I knew what he wanted me to do, but my brain could not comprehend it. "What?"

"I know who she is, where she lives and you could just woo her, make her love you. Her father would do anything for her and he has great power. He can get her out of the deal if she wants to. If she's out of the deal, I am too."

"You want me to make her fall for me?" I asked, beyond shocked. I knew that Quinn was desperate to get out of the deal, but I did not think he would go that far for it "Don't you think that's going a bit too far?"

"No, I don't think it's going too far. Think of it this way, do you think it's fair that this girl had to marry someone who will never want her? I might be doing this for myself, but I would never want her to live that sort of life. Who knows, you might end up falling for her yourself." He joked, trying to lighten up the atmosphere in the room.

I didn't find it funny, so I chose to ignore it. "I understand, but if in some way she finds out what we're doing, she could just make sure your only chance out of the deal an impossibility. Like you said, her father has power."

He suddenly gripped the underside of the coffee table and stood up, lifting the table with him and sent it turning in the air at least five times before falling to the floor not far from my feet. A bit shocked, I jumped back, but didn't feel any real fear. I knew that he was having a hard time dealing with all of it and there was no real reason to be afraid of him.

"Jaxon, I'm begging you here. I can't marry her, I just can't. My mother doesn't want to either, I could see it in her face today and my Dad, well, he doesn't like the fact that I'm gay but I can tell he doesn't want to force me to do anything. I know that they don't like forcing me to do this, but they have no choice! This is the perfect plan. We're not breaking any laws, so they can't pin anything against us." He looked pleadingly up to me, obviously hoping with all his might that I would cave in and help him. "If you do this, you can help me make a change. Once we've done this, you could help the hundreds of us who are forced to marry women or men we barely even know. This is how you could make it up to us all. Maybe, this is even how you can make it up to _her_."

I stood frozen, thinking of what he'd just said. My brain searched for something to say, some way to tell him no, but I couldn't do anything. I knew that this was indeed the way to make it up to them all. If I did this, I knew that somehow it would make it all better. They would forgive me, _she_ would forgive me.

Knowing this, I answered without hesitation, "I'll do it."

Because I knew that even after I, Jaxon McDonald, could be forgiven for being a vampire hunter if I helped the vampires themselves.

* * *

**A/N: On yes, it's here. Jaxon's story is here! My apologies for the long wait, but I moved and lost the internet for weeks. Hell, I still don't have it but I came to the public library because I felt absolutely horrible for not having started this yet, or updated my other stories. Alright, honestly, if you guys don't like Quinn, I'll murder you all. From the moment I began writing about him, I fell head over heels in love with the guy, even if he isn't straight. I'm telling you now though, I have absolutely no clue when I'll be able to post the next chapter. Hopefully in less than two weeks, but things have been complicated lately. Please review and tell me what you think of this first chapter.**


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